Our Love to Admire
by Lady Cousland
Summary: A collection of short one-shots about Harvest Moon. All pairings and genres! Review with a request!  Formerly known as Minute Drabbles.
1. Gill and Molly

A/N: I do not own Harvest Moon in any way. Don't forget to review! I am taking requests for my next drabbles! It can be about anything related to Harvest Moon, any genre, any pairing.

**Analytical  
**_Gill and Molly_

Had she said she'd loved me back, I'd have at least attempted to keep her here. I say attempted because I know Molly well enough to see that she'd have left anyway. She is a wandering soul, a soft contrast to my own analytical ways. That is what I admired in her most. Molly is optimistic and cheerful, a charming feminine combination. I'd always fallen hard for that, but there was something different about Molly in particular. None of the other girls were as well-spoken as she is, and while she is intelligent, she is also able to dream and let herself go. She tried to teach me to do that, but it seems that she failed. Perhaps I should have been a more willing student.

Had I been less grounded, I'd have told her about my feelings. Indecisiveness is as indecisiveness does, that is, I do nothing. I waited too long, I know that now. It seems that I ignore the things I do not wish to see. I suppose I knew deep down that she wouldn't stay. I knew that I didn't have forever to tell her that I love her. It seems strange to say it. Love is a powerful word, a word with so many meanings. Each definition of love is one's own.

Samson's was Delilah. Romeo's was Juliet.

As for mine, it is Molly.


	2. Kevin and Kathy

_For The Silver Arrow_

**Kevin and Song**

_Kevin/Kathy_

Kevin was a regular at the Brass Bar. As the lone waitress, I usually got at least a few opportunities to talk to him every night. He was interesting, to say the least, and always had a good story to tell. Some nights, he would sing accompanied by Calvin's mellow acoustic guitar. Other nights, Calvin would stay home with his wife, but Kevin sang anyway. I remember the first time I heard him sing without any music to distract the audience from his voice. That was the moment I fell in love for the first time.

In the beginning, his visits were a treat to me, something that made the nights a little less lonely. Soon, I began to depend on his presence at the counter and on the stage. I looked forward to seeing him and often waited at the door for him to come in. Just seeing Kevin smile made the dopamine levels in my brain go awry. Hearing him sing his heart out ripped my own to shreds. I felt his emotions, creatively expressed through song. I thought I could help him. His life seemed so complex for that of a farmer, so difficult it made me obsessed with helping him, saving him from himself, if you will.

One night, I saw Kevin come in through the door, his eyes droopy, his arms dejectedly hanging from his sides. He was a tired man. It was then that I realized that without the gift of song, he was nothing. I felt my heart drop as I realized that the role I wanted in his life was already taken by music. It was what kept him going. It was what he loved more than anything. I was but a bystander, lucky enough to witness a love story in the making. Kevin and Song.


	3. Luke and Akari

_For The Fearless Fox_

**Wait for Me**

_Luke/Akari_

Eight year-old Akari didn't understand why she had to leave. She didn't understand her mother's change of heart. A few days before, she had promised that they would live on Castanet forever and she had changed her mind four times since then, finally deciding that they were to take a boat to the mainland soon.

Akari didn't want to move to the city. She had heard stories from Gill, the mayor's son, about how big it was and how easily one could get lost. She didn't trust Gill's judgment, but it didn't stop her from being scared. The night light she hadn't used in years had come out of her closet last night and she spent a few hours in her mother's bed before finally retiring to her own. The little girl still couldn't sleep, however. Consequently, she was tired when she left home to find her best friend, a nine year-old named Luke, to say goodbye.

Akari dragged her feet as she walked, kicking stones every now and then, dust rising from the ground. She looked at her surroundings closely, believing that this would be the last time she would see them. She bent down to take a look at a mushroom on the ground when she heard a voice calling.

"Akari!" Luke came running up to her, squashing the mushroom Akari had been staring at so intently. "My dad has extra wood we can use to build a treehouse!" he exclaimed, oblivious to the girl's mood.

"I'm leaving, Luke," she said, her voice flat.

"That's not fair! We were going to build the bestest treehouse ever!" Luke whined. "Are you going to come back?"

"I'm not sure," Akari answered, shaking her head. "Maybe."

"Then the treehouse can wait!" Luke decided, nodding. "I'll wait for you to come back to build it!"

"You promise?" Akari asked hesitantly.

"I promise!"

* * *

Ten years later, Akari smiled as she remembered that moment. She was sitting in the back of Cain's wagon, waiting to be dropped off at the entrance to Fugue Forest. She was excited. She hadn't been back in years and was looking forward to seeing the treehouse she assumed Luke had built. She grinned, reminding herself that he could never keep a promise for long.

"We're here!" Cain called from his perch at the front of the wagon.

Akari hopped off the back, but not before thanking Cain profusely. Shaking his head and smiling about her enthusiasm, he left, leaving the girl standing in front of the workshop. She skipped into what she had once considered her home away from home, ready to finally meet Luke again after all those years.

"Hello?" she called, making her way around the trees with ease. Although she hadn't been there in years, she still knew her way around. Akari still recognized the sound of Luke's axe swinging when she heard it, though it was louder and stronger now than it had been then.

"Akari!" She heard Luke's voice now, as excited as ever, coming from the next clearing. The axe swings stopped and soon Luke appeared, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"I knew you'd be here," Akari said happily.

Luke smiled. "It's my day off today, but I came anyway."

"I didn't know you'd become such a hard worker," Akari joked.

"I'm getting wood for the treehouse!" Luke exclaimed. "Tell me you remember that!"

Akari nodded. "You didn't build it yet?"

"I promised!" Luke pouted, obviously upset that his friend hadn't trusted him.

"I'm sorry," said Akari. "Really."

"I know. Let's go!" he said, grabbing her hand sharply and taking her deeper into the forest, where the piles of lumber destined for their treehouse awaited them. Akari smiled. She was finally home.


	4. Lloyd and Gretel

_For Rayna, who leaves amazing reviews! I can only hope that I did this couple justice._

**Striped Carnation**

_Gretel/Lloyd_

I had never expressed any interest in the outside world until I met Lloyd. He was a former globetrotter, an explorer who had seen and heard things I had never imagined could exist. He opened my eyes to the world, moving me with his words and the images he oh so cleverly planted in my mind. The well-placed sighs he let out as he spoke led me to believe that there was more to the stories than he let on. That fact only intensified my interest in his travels and even Lloyd himself.

After years of slaving away on my farm, I grew tired of it. What I had once relished became a chore to me. Slowly, I began to neglect the crops and the animals. I fell into a rut, broken only by my daily visits to Lloyd's home, where he enchanted me with news from faraway lands and the memories of people he had once known. I remained as if in a trance in his home, until he ushered me out at night. Then I broke down and came crashing down into reality, tears sliding down my cheeks as I walked back home, unsure of whether or not I could live another day here.

One day, one of my cows, Lara, died suddenly. It was then that I realized that my boredom and sullen outlook on life was taking a toll on more than myself. I ran to Lloyd's home as fast as I could, having finally decided on what to do.

Lloyd was the only one who could help me. I sincerely believed he would, for he was the cause of my discontentment with the world around me and murderer of my spirit. I loved yet hated him for everything. He had breathed new life into my soul, enchanted my mind with those deadly nostalgic memories of his, yet ruined me completely. He taught me to wonder, to think and to doubt. What he did not know was that he gave me a cursed gift, one that I appreciated but bitterly wished I had never received.

I spoke with Lloyd, told him about my request, reasoned with him until I could speak no more. As usual, he told me to let myself out of his home as soon as night fell upon us. I will not lie; I did have high hopes about everything. Lloyd did seem interested in what I had to say, but now I know that I had merely seen what I wanted to. Lloyd knew exactly what he was going to do the following morning. It did include me, though not in the way I had hoped.

The next morning, I woke up to find a single, striped carnation on my porch. A striped carnation, a symbol of refusal. I put it in a vase near the window, sitting by it, watching it for days as it wilted. I knew I was next.

* * *

A/N: Don't forget to review! I'm taking requests, so don't hesitate to ask for any pairing!


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